Housing and Real Estate

12/02/2011

John Rose has the right to enter his Co-op City home through the building’s front door, a Bronx Supreme Court judge has ruled, requiring the building’s management company to make renovations. However, the damages awarded to the tenant were far lower than what the New York City Human Rights Commission said he deserved.

Rose, who has cerebral palsy, had asked River Bay Corp. to make the front door accessible in 2008. The company said it would make the side door accessible instead and Rose said that made him feel like a “second-class citizen.”

Rose has lived in the building for 30 years. As his condition progressed, weakening his arm and leg muscles, he would sit outside the door waiting for someone to open it. When the company renovated the side door for him to use two years after his request for front door accessibility, Rose refused to use it.

10/17/2011

The owner and developer of a luxury apartment building on the Upper West Side will be paying thousands of dollars to residents with disabilities following the legal settlement of a federal civil rights lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman has ruled that L & M 93rd Street LLC and Costas Kondylis & Partners LLP Architects prohibited access for people with disabilities in their building, The Melar. Neither company could be reached for comment.

07/25/2011

Maria and Michael Stasinski of Bulls Head, Staten Island have settled a disagreement with their building’s condo board over the installation of a wheelchair lift for their four-year-old daughter Giuliana. The lift has now been installed.

Giuliana has cerebral palsy. The Stasinskis received a donation of a $5,000 wheelchair lift from the Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation. However, the Richmond Mews condominium complex where they live did not initially approve its installation at the location they requested.

04/15/2011

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has released a 2011-12 Executive Budget that includes reductions to housing services for people with disabilities.

The budget aims to eliminate a $10 billion state deficit and create long-term savings without raising taxes. It calls for reductions to internal government processes, the consolidation and merging of 11 agencies and a $1 billion reduction in Medicaid spending.

10/24/2010

A state appeals panel has ruled that New York City is no longer required to fulfill a 2003 mandate to provide services to inmates with mental illnesses after they are released from prison.

The August 10 decision reverses an injunction by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Shafer last year that required the city to continue complying with terms of the settlement in Brad H. v. City of New York, a lawsuit that was filed in 1999 by a group of inmates from city jails.

The panel said the court no longer has the power to continue enforcing the settlement, which required the city to provide services to inmates leaving prison beginning in 2003 and lasting for five years. Those services included mental health treatment, medication, assistance applying for public benefits and transportation to a home or shelter.

The Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC) and the law firm Giskan Solotaroff Anderson & Stewart LLP filed a lawsuit August 26 charging landlords and property owners with discriminating against an applicant with a disability.

The lawsuit was filed in state court on behalf of Paul Solomons, 44, of New York City, against more than 20 property owners and brokers. Solomons receives Social Security Disability benefits and a Section 8 voucher from the New York City Housing Authority. He has been looking for an apartment through brokers and landlords.

08/21/2008

The Sammamish City Council is requiring 10 percent of the housing units built as part of the 243-acre Town Center project to be available to people with low incomes, which opens the door for the construction of up to 200 affordable units. One of the city’s potential partners in that effort is the East King County branch of the non-profit organization Habitat for Humanity International. Habitat for Humanity homes are available to people making less than 50 percent of the median income, which equates to less than $40,000 per year for a family of four in East King County.

08/06/2008

Sammamish resident Mustafa “Marc” Khosraw could face up to 30 years in jail for participation in what the U.S. Attorney’s Office calls a mortgage fraud scheme – one that has gained national attention.

Khosraw, 46, is one of 406 people indicted in Operation “Malicious Mortgage,” a federal investigation that uncovered 144 mortgage fraud cases between March 1 and June 18. The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges that Khosraw, a mortgage broker, drafted false mortgage documents as part of a six-person team in the Puget Sound area that made $8.5 million in profits in 2004 and 2005.

07/23/2008

Governing a city with a median income that is more than double that of Washington State has its downside; creating affordable housing so people who work in Sammamish can live here too is a difficult challenge. But living in Sammamish could get a little easier with the development of Town Center, a 243-acre project that is in the planning stages. A City Council mandate means there could be as many as 200 affordable units in Town Center. They will also offer incentives that may double that number.

One of the city’s potential partners in that effort is Habitat for Humanity, an international non-profit organization with a chapter serving East King County.

Tom Granger (pictured), executive director for the Eastside chapter, spoke to the Sammamish Chamber of Commerce July 17 about the importance of building housing units for people with low-incomes in Sammamish.

07/15/2008

City planners have revised a roundabout plan for 244th Avenue and East Main Drive that could use eminent domain. However, some residents say they still oppose the idea of a roundabout altogether.

John Cunningham, the city’s director of public works, said a
consultant has re-designed the project, which is intended to calm
traffic on the avenue, and the new plan impacts fewer property owners.
He said the city plans to start construction in September.

This follows a May 20 City Council meeting where Cunningham proposed
that the city take portions of seven property owners’ yards for the
roundabout. The new plan calls for taking portions of three properties,
and only one is a single-family home, as opposed to three in the
original plan.